3 ms·
That would explain the cost (that is a really slow pick and place). For comparison I designed a board a few years ago that was a 6" by 8", 4 layer PCB, parts o
by mbell 14y ago
That would explain the cost (that is a really slow pick and place). For comparison I designed a board a few years ago that was a 6" by 8", 4 layer PCB, parts on both sides, 163 parts, several orders of magnitude more complex than an Arduino. For 1,000 unit runs the the per unit costs were $2.97 for the PCB and assembly with flying probe test was $3.51, including post processing for several parts that were not reflowable, done in Asia by a contract manufacturer.
- jrockway 14y agoYes, Sparkfun's products are definitely overpriced. They sell a constant-current LED driver for $50 that has a ~$8 parts cost at single-unit quantities. Even when I hand-solder the circuit on to a $10 Dangerous Prototypes surface-mount prototyping board at my normal hourly rate, I still come out ahead. I still contend that the Arduino is approximately decently priced when you consider that Arduinos are popular enough to not be put together by hand but niche enough to not be made by the millions at Foxconn.